An Independence PartyMike Nattrass
MEP

UKIP Transport Spokesman Mike Nattrass says, that
after years of denials HS2 is an EU scheme, the genie is finally
out of the bottle following news that a proposed new railway
station in Birmingham will have a platform for trains to
Brussels.

The West Midlands MEP says news that the proposed Curzon
Street interchange will have a platform for high speed trains to
the Continent proves HS2 is an EU driven vanity project.

Curzon Street would have six platforms for domestic train
services and a further platform at the interchange would be a
seventh platform for the use of high speed trains to Brussels,
Paris and Amsterdam.

The news comes just a week after the publication of a damning
report by the National Audit Office (NAO) which warned the HS2
rail project has an estimated funding black hole of £3.3
billion.

UKIP Transport Spokesman Mike Nattrass, who is a member of the
EU’s Transport & Tourism Committee, says, proposals for
Curzon Street prove what he has said for years that HS2, like HS1
before it, is part of the pan-European high speed rail network
serving the EU ‘empire’ but funded by British
taxpayers.

Commenting this week, Mr Nattrass, said: “It is clear
that EU = HS2. The proposals for the new Curzon Street
interchange, with its platform for high speed trains to the
Continent, proves what I have said for many years that HS2
project is being driven by the European Union as is would be part
of the EU’s Trans European Network for Transport
(TEN-T).

“The HS2 project is deeply flawed and last week’s
NAO report, which identified an estimated £3.3 billion funding
gap in the Department for Transport’s plans, shows the need
to put a brake on this vanity venture.

“Why waste billions of pounds on a project that will
widen the North South divide when our existing rail network is
crying out for much-needed investment?

“A recent study by Freelancer.co.uk showed around a
third of the 2,000 small Birmingham firms surveyed believe that
HS2 will not boost their business. Vitals skills and jobs would
travel out of the North on England and West Midlands to London.
So much for HS2 tackling the North South divide.

“I agree with Stop HS2 – HS2 is a
‘London-centric proposal’. I will continue to fight
against HS2 and instead fight for jobs and growth to be created
in the West Midlands Region,” he added.

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